Bengaluru, Nov 21 : Karnataka Home Minister G. Parameshwara on Thursday appealed to the progressive thinkers to persuade Maoists to surrender to the police and join the mainstream.

He made the appeal while responding to criticism by progressive thinkers that "to avert the movement against the implementation of the Kasturirangan report, the encounter of Vikram Gowda was carried out".

Home Minister Parameshwara said: "The progressive thinkers themselves had made appeals asking Vikram Gowda and others to surrender. By doing so, they have accepted that they are against the Naxal ideology. There is no objection to protests, they can always come forward and stage agitations judiciously."

"The progressive thinkers had appealed to people not to join the naxal movement. I request them to put efforts from their side to bring Naxals into the mainstream," he appealed.

He further stated, "Because, in our district (Tumakuru), the People's War Group (PWG) operated on Andhra Pradesh's border. They adopted naxal ideology. The members of PWG demanded money from the well-off, the members fenced the lands belonging to them and distributed it to the poor."

"They killed many policemen in the Pavagada region in Karnataka and the situation had become uncontrollable. When we made appeals, many Naxals surrendered during the tenure of former CM S.K. Krishna, he said.

The Minister claimed, "I have already clarified Vikram Gowda was not killed in a fake encounter. For the last 20 years, Vikram Gowda's activities have been monitored. It was also observed how he participated in protests and took part in anti-people activities. All information is available with force."

"Vikram Gowda had more than 60 cases registered against him and carried firearms without a license and he came into the category of naxals. To contain naxals in Karnataka and other states, a separate force was created. In Odisha, Kerala states and in our state as well, Anti-Naxal Force (ANF) is created," he stated.

Karnataka Police killed one of the most wanted Maoist leaders Vikram Gowda in an encounter in the Kabbinale forest region in Udupi district on Monday evening.

Karnataka Internal Security Division DGP Pronab Mohanty said that the encounter with Maoist Vikram Gowda was not planned.

"Our aim is not carrying out encounters. There are surrender and rehabilitation packages for Naxals via which they can lay down their arms and join the mainstream," he said.

/IANS